Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Triumph Dealer in Chiang Mai Thailand

I guess that it should have not come to a surprise to me that there is a dealer here in Chiang Mai as many of our motorcycles were made in the plant just S.E. of Bangkok however I had not seen a single one until today when two turned right in front of us the guys were wearing Triumph shirts. When we got back to our hotel I did the mandatory search on the internet only to find out they were within 10 minutes walk so I trundled on over there to have a peak at what they have in stock. Funny thing is I realized that Jane and I had walked right past it the night before coming back from a blues bar in the night market but I guess after a few wobbly pops and having to run the gauntlet of woman trying to entice us to come into the bars (at least I think they were women) I missed the little Brit Cycle sign above the roll down door. I had in mind a dealer dedicated T shirt as I picked up in Portugal a few years but alas non were to be had. Their English was not so good so after they acknowledged I own a Triumph back in Canada they got back to work. They had a good selection T120s, Scramblers, a triple and one new Speedmaster (don't like the brushed finish on the casing). An American from Colorado and his mates came along at that moment and we got to talking Triumph he has a T120 back home. As I had left my phone back in the hotel room so Jane could use it as a personal hotspot to do some credit card purchase of hotels at our next location I did not have my calculator with me to do the math on the purchase price of a new Triumph in the country they are made. Mr. Colorado pulled out his phone and I asked him to divide the purchase price of the scrambler by 24 roughly the number of Baht per Canadian Dollar. 479,000 Baht. How screwed up is that they pay double what I would for the same motorcycle and it is made in their country for dirt cheap wages. We both just shook our heads as we could not believe it and off I went to find Jane and go get some street food.

Yes they have dealers in Chang Mai,Ubon Ratchathani,KhonKaen,Phuket Bangkok [of course and I believe in UdonThani ad Pattaya too.I've been quoted 630,000 baht for the new Speedmaster! So I'll be buying mine in Australia.

Dated article but here is the skinny on this

http://www.motorbeam.com/bikes/triumph/triumph-to-import-bikes-from-thailand-for-india/
This article is based on a press release by Triumph at the end of January 2013, in which they said that Triumph would be available on the Indian market at the end of year (2013).
At that moment Triumph had not released the information that they where investing in a super factory in India (that was revealed in a press release mid June 2013).
So because Triumph had said that they would return to the India Motorcycle market, and not yet reveled that they where also building a factory in India a good amount of people where speculating that Triumph India would be importing motorcycles from Thailand (the logical nearest factory).
But now that the full Indian plans from Triumph are revealed we know that currently parts are still being produced in Thailand, this parts are shipped to a factory in the Gurgaon-Manesar area in Haryana, India. According to the plan, Triumph Motorcycles assembling completely knocked-down (CKD) kits at its factory. This CKD's will be fully assembled in England or in another facility in India where Triumph is training future workers for its Karnataka "Super" factory...
The Triumph “super” manufacturing plant in Karnataka, India will slowly take over complete production of the motorcycles with the current plan the Karnataka, India factory will be capable to produce Triumph's worldwide demand at the end of 2015. Last year Triumph produced in both its production facilities 49,000 units, which they want to nearly double for 2015....

And because they are between 250cc and 2000cc there is a 60% import duty. So what is the first letter of the serial number now?

"So what is the first letter of the serial number now"

I believe it would be "?"

As far as I know the Bonneville twins are all produced in Thailand now so there's no import duty any more the hava luxury tax in thailand maybe that's why the New Speedmaster is Austrlian 4k more in Thailand than Australia.

Perhaps they still are however the factory is in a special zone for export only for tax purposes so they would technically be an import.

Sometimes you all scare me.

Ha Ha yah well it has been almost 3 months since I last rode Crantini and anything Triumph is of interest. Still when I did the math for the Triumphs in Thailand it was a shock. The next city Chiang Rai had a big new showroom so they must be selling. Then again we are getting close to the Golden Triangle so just like in El Chepos home town wherethere is a big Harley dealer perhaps this is the same, more cash floating around.

Same deal in Taiwan.

They slap a government tax / test to ensure they are safe to run on the roads here... duh...

It brings the price of a new America or Speedmaster at about $20,000 usd.

The other stupid rule is that we can't change anything on the bike, everything has to be just like it left the factory. So, no changing pipes, headlights, even mirrors! The H-D crowd is crying buckets!

And every 6 months, I have to pass a DMV check... so, every 6 months, I have to put it all back to a factory looking bike.... pass the test, and change it all back to my liking.

That's a lot of work!